West Ham Striker Linked To Villa

This isn't exactly one of those rumours that will get the claret and blue juices flowing but ho hum!

According to the Times Aston Villa have made an approach for West Ham United for striker Marlon Harewood. The report suggests he will be sold if Hammers boss Alan Curbishley can find a replacement.

As we reported via our podcast the other day, Martin O'Neill appears to be getting more and more frustrated with the transfer window saying:

'It's absolutely no different to what I expected. It's been the same every single January since this foolish rule was brought into being. Every single club in Europe is looking at this window, because it's the only opportunity to try and do business.'

Adding: 'By the same token I don't want to be held to ransom, but obviously at the same time very aware that we'll like to try and strengthen the squad. All the things that have come into being I expected anyway.'

Not sure what he means by the being held to ransom, although with Watford apparently wanting £9million for Ashley Young, I don't suppose you have to stretch your imagination too far to guess.

Use your social login to comment on front page articles. Login using you Facebook, Twitter, Google or LinkedIn accounts and have your say!

Your Comments (oldest first)

Marlon Harewood, not exactly one to set pulses racing, but if he gets goals and plays for the team none of us can complain. Are we also starting to see the benefits of a 'hungry' Milan Baros, could MO'N do the same for Baros as what he did to Henrik Larsson?

he might be cack, but didn't he get a hattrick against us last season? :o( Probably a load of rubbish rumour anyway, I guess he is the strong type like Hartson who MON signed for Celtic. Have to have faith in MON for whoever he chooses, it is his reputation and job on the line, easier for us to pick and choose!!

Harewood is a sensible short term option. I think MON has been well and truly frustrated in the transfer window and is now looking for solid bargain buys to keep us afloat. Looks as though the serious spending will have to wait until summer.

Pking your so right, DJx2 1.5 million.... MON has to be concerned about Villas current position, I am. When you hear on 5 Live about Villa joining Middlesbrough in the relegation dog fight you tend to have a reality check, points and players needed and soon.

New faces are needed. Enough said. If we cant bring in MON's first choices for whatever varying reasons, we have to set our sights lower, and build from a rung or two lower down the ladder. Rebulding after years and years of stagnation and neglect will take time, but we absolutely have to make a start. This current squad will struggle to keep us out of an end of season fight for survival.

It's a bit worrying if you assume Curbishley will only let him go if he gets someone better. Doesn't do much to inspire us, having a poor club's rejects. I think its time to batton down the hatches and just hope we can avoid the drop this season again.

Marlon Harewood... WHU are in the shyt why would they be selling him,,,,,,, Not good enough? Need to raise Money?? Is he not up to it??? Another link with another player. Just go and Offer Chalton 10 million for Bent NOW before the window closes.

Glensider- surely its not worth bringing new faces in just for the sake of it (Djemba a perfect example). You must agree Harewood is no better than what we have already and probably worse, so please tell me the reason for buying him?

Glensider is kind of right though, £8m for Ashley Young is absolutely stupid money, how can a forward who has scored 3 goals this season at the premierships basement club be valued at £8 - £9 million. If thats the case what price for Gabby Abonglahor? I beleive O'Neill has several targets that he wants to pursue, but what can he do if the clubs won't sell them and the players won't join? We would have had SWP by now had Abramovich not blocked his move, how is that MO'N's or Lerner's fault? Reading didn't want to sell Kevin Doyle, again how is that O'Neill's fault? Nugent doesn't want to move from Preston till at least next season? If we went out and signed Young for £8m i'd expect him to be doing the business straight away, and by that I mean bagging and setting up goals galore, if we spent £8m on a player and he turned out to be a Collymore, then what would be the point? Fans will never be happy, you either try and sign players that don't want to join, and if they don't join you have to look elsewhere for people that would join. Would we all be having this conversation if Harewood joins and scores 10-12 goals in between now and the end of the season? No, you;ll be loving it too much and saying what a masterstroke it was to sign him, much like the majority of people are saying now about one Chris Sutton....

chris sutton,give us a break he's only been fit for 48hrs since he arrived, and believe me its no bloody masterstroke getting a 30 odd year old, buying thiery henry for 2 million now thats a masterstroke!

The point isnt about whether he's 30 or not, it's about whether or not he can score goals as a striker, and if he gets us goals then will it not be a good signing? As for Chris Sutton, fair enough it wasn't a masterstroke to sign him, but I bet the majority of people here would prefer him over Angel at the moment.

HAREWOOD would be a panic buy. He's decent but not for us. Beattie and Bellamy are worth a go as both Defoe and Bent will want to stay in the CRAPital *****ty. Combine Beattie and Bellamy with Cooke and either SWP/Young and we will finally start stretching teams again. Also, I truly believe we need a few more soldiers in midfield/defence...any ideas?

I think Young is crazy money.He's in the bottom placed team and is no better than Gabby. We are linked with many players but the ones i see that are worth it are Bellamy, SWP, Keane and Dica.
I would keep Baros and build our team around him and Barry.
I'd give Lee Hendrie another chance too.
Villa are in a serious mess....15th in the table after Toon beat Spurs....and whilst we might have 7 points between us and the drop zone...we are also 7 points behind the Uefa cup places. How we strengthen and what we're able to attract and how quickly they have a positive impact will decide where we finish off.
The reality is, we are in exactly the same position as we were a year ago this time. We cant blame Ellis or O'Leary this time...and no one would dare say a word about MoN or Lerner!Thats a fact...

Wrong reza. We are in the situation 100% because of Ellis and O'Leary. What little investment was made available was spent by O'Leary on Baros, Bouma, Berson, The Twins, Hughes, Laursen, Philips etc. None of these players are making a significant contribution, some injured, some gone and some useless! That left MON at the start of the season with kids, Mellberg, Barry and O'Leary's two decent buys, Sorenson and McCann. Sorting out this mess is going take time and patience. Randy has risked his cash and MON his reputation taking on a club that was rotten to the core, the least we can do is give these guys some time.

Its time to strengthen even if we are paying over the odds. Who wants to join a team finishing just above bottom three, or dare i say it, in the bottom three. If Harewood is the best we can get id rather wait for Luke Moore to come back thankyou very much. Marlon Harewood? (tut + sigh).

reza, "The reality is, we are in exactly the same position as we were a year ago this time." have to beg to differ there mate, This time we have MON instead of O'Dreary, Randy instead of deadly, This time we have hope, This time we have a great chance to get back up to where a team such as ours should be, give it time, have faith

Stevew - great comments bud. We were rotten to the core. Randy is attempting to get us going and let's just hope westay with him and MO'N and not get fickle like the Chelsea hierarchy are with Mourinho.

Cookie Policy
At Vital Football, we along with most other modern websites use small files called 'cookies' to create the most secure, effective and functional website possible for our users. Without these files our business model, based on advertising, breaks down and we would be unable to continue to provide the services that you are here to utilise. By continuing to use this website after seeing this message, you consent to our use of cookies on this device unless you have disabled them. For full details please read our Cookie Policy which can be found here. However, if you would like to disable cookies on this device, please view our Cookie Policy which contains an opt-out tool for disabling advertising cookies. Please also visit our information pages on 'How to manage cookies' if you would also like to block all other types of cookies. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies.